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A choir, chorale, or
chorus is a musical
ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is
the music written specifically for such an ensemble to
perform.

A body of singers who perform together is called a choir or chorus.
The former term is very often applied to groups affiliated with a
church (whether or not they actually occupy the choir) and the second to groups that
perform in theatres or concert halls, but this distinction is far
from rigid. The term "Choir" has the secondary definition of a
subset of an ensemble; thus one speaks of the "woodwind choir" of
an orchestra, or different "choirs" of voices and/or instruments in
a polychoral composition.
In typical 18th to 20th century oratorios
and mass, chorus or choir is usually
understood to imply more than one singer per part, in contrast to
the quartet of soloists also featured in these works.

Structure of choirs

Choirs are often led by a conductor or
choirmaster. Most often choirs consist of four sections intended to
sing in four part harmony, but there is no limit to the number of
possible parts as long as there is a singer available to sing the
part: Thomas Tallis wrote a 40-part
motet entitled Spem in alium, for eight choirs of five
parts each; Krzysztof
Penderecki's Stabat Mater is for three choirs of 16
voices each, a total of 48 parts. Other than four, the most common
number of parts are three, five, six and eight.

Choirs can sing with or without instrumental accompaniment. Singing
without accompaniment is called a
cappella singing (although the American Choral Directors
Association[7247] discourages this usage in favor of
"unaccompanied", since a cappella denotes singing "as in the
chapel" and much unaccompanied music today is secular).
Accompanying instruments vary widely, from only one to a full
orchestra; for rehearsals a piano or organ
accompaniment is often used, even if a different instrumentation is
planned for performance, or if the choir is rehearsing
unaccompanied music.

In Worship Services

Accompaniment

Eastern Orthodox churches, some
American protestant groups, and some synagogues do not use instruments. In churches of
the Western Rite the accompanying
instrument is usually the organ, although in colonial America, the Moravian Church used groups of strings and
winds. Many churches which use a contemporary worship format use a
small amplified band to accompany the singing, and Roman Catholic
Churches may use, at their discretion, additional orchestral
accompaniment.

Liturgical Function

In addition to leading of singing in which the congregation participates, such as
hymns and service music, some church choirs
still sing full liturgies, including propers (introit, gradual, communion
antiphons appropriate for the different times of the liturgical year). Chief among these are the
Anglican and Roman Catholic churches; far more
common however is the performance of anthems
or motets at designated times in the
service.

Types of Choirs

Mixed choirs (with male and female voices). This is perhaps the
most common type, usually consisting of soprano, alto, tenor and bass
voices, often abbreviated as SATB. Often one or
more voices is divided into two, e.g., SSAATTBB, where each voice
is divided into two parts, and SATBSATB, where the choir is divided
into two semi-independent four-part choirs. Occasionally baritone voice is also used (e.g., SATBarB), often
sung by the higher basses. In smaller choirs with fewer men, SAB,
or Soprano, Alto, and Baritone arrangements allow the few men to
share the role of both the tenor and bass in a single part.

Male choirs, with the same SATB voicing as mixed choirs, but
with boys singing the upper part (often called trebles or boy sopranos)
and men singing alto (in falsetto), also
known as countertenors. This format is
typical of the British cathedral choir.

Female choirs, usually consisting of soprano and alto voices,
two parts in each, often abbreviated as SSAA, or as soprano I,
soprano II, and alto, abbreviated SSA.

Men's choirs, usually consisting of two tenors, baritone, and
bass, often abbreviated as TTBB (or ATBB if the upper part sings
falsetto in alto range. ATBB may be seen in some barbershop quartet music.

Children's choirs, often two-part SA or three-part SSA,
sometimes more voices. This includes boychoirs.

Choirs are also categorized by the institutions in which they
operate:

Arrangements on Stage

One possible layout

German Kantorei in front of
the orchestra

There are various schools of thought regarding how the various
sections should be arranged on stage. In symphonic choirs it is
common (though by no means universal) to order the choir behind the
orchestra from highest to lowest voices from left to right,
corresponding to the typical string layout. Since 2000 several
choirs introduced the historic layout of
the 17th –19th century with the choir in front of the orchestra, so
the American North Penn High School Concert
Choir , the Canadian Tafelmusik
Chamber Choir, the German Kreuznacher-Diakonie-Kantorei and the French
Chapelle Rhénane. In a
cappella or piano-accompanied situations it is not unusual for the
men to be in the back and the women in front; some conductors
prefer to place the basses behind the sopranos, arguing that the
outer voices need to tune to each other.

More experienced choirs often sing with the voices all mixed
together. Proponents of this method argue that it makes it easier
for each individual singer to hear and tune to the other parts, but
it requires more independence from each singer. Opponents argue
that this method loses the spatial separation of individual voice
lines, an otherwise valuable feature for the audience, and that it
eliminates sectional resonance, which lessens the effective volume
of the chorus.

For music with double (or multiple) choirs, usually the members of
each choir are together, sometimes significantly separated,
especially in performances of 16th-century music. Some composers
actually specify that choirs should be separated, such as in
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem.

Consideration is also given to the spacing of the singers. Studies
have found that not only the actual formation, but the amount of
space (both laterally and circumambiently) affect the perception of
sound by choristers and auditors.

Skills involved in choral singing

Choral singers vary greatly in their ability and performance. The
best choral singers possess (among others) the following abilities:

Works Progress Administration:
Children's choral group, 1935.

to sing precisely in tune (on the correct pitch) and with a
vocal timbre (or color) which complements the
other singers;

to sing at precisely controlled levels of volume, matching the
dynamics marked in the score or prescribed by the conductor, and
not sing so loudly as to be markedly detectable as an individual
voice within the section;

to read and pronounce the text accurately and in the
pronunciation style specified by the leader, whatever the language
may be. This includes correct diction, proper vowels and timing of
diphthongs, and correct placement of consonants;

to understand and interpret the music and to reflect that
understanding in the vocal production of the music;

to remain completely alert for long periods, monitoring closely
what is going on in a rehearsal or performance;

to monitor one's own singing and detect errors, correcting them
as they go along,

to accept direction from others for the good of the group as a
whole, even when the singer disagrees aesthetically with the
instructions;

to produce a healthy and pleasing tone through the use of
proper vocal technique;

Medieval music

The earliest notated music of western Europe is Gregorian Chant, along with a few other
types of chant which were later subsumed (or sometimes suppressed)
by the Catholic Church. This tradition of unison choir singing
lasted from sometime between the times of St. Ambrose (4th century) and Gregory the Great (6th century) up to the
present. During the later Middle Ages, a new type of singing
involving multiple melodic parts, called organum, became predominant for certain functions,
but initially this polyphony was only sung
by soloists. Further developments of this technique included
clausulae, conductus and the motet (most
notably the isorhythmic motet), which,
unlike the Renaissance motet,
describes a composition with different texts sung simultaneously in
different voices. The first evidence of polyphony with more than
one singer per part comes in the Old
Hall Manuscript (1420, though containing music from the late
1300s), in which there are apparent divisi, one part
dividing into two simultaneously sounding notes.

Renaissance music

During the Renaissance, sacred
choral music was the principal type of formally-notated music in
Western Europe. Throughout the era, hundreds of mass and motets (as well
as various other forms) were composed for a
cappella choir, though there is some dispute over the role of
instruments during certain periods and in certain areas. Some of
the better-known composers of this time include Dufay, Josquin
des Prez, Giovanni
Pierluigi da Palestrina, and William
Byrd; the glories of Renaissance polyphony were choral, sung by choirs of great
skill and distinction all over Europe. Choral music from this
period continues to be popular with many choirs throughout the
world today.

The madrigal, a partsong conceived
for amateurs to sing in a chamber setting, originated at this
period. Although madrigals were initially dramatic settings of
unrequited-love poetry or mythological stories in Italy, they were
imported into England and merged with the more dancelike balletto, celebrating carefree songs of the
seasons, or eating and drinking. To most English speakers, the word
madrigal now refers to the latter, rather than to
madrigals proper, which refers to a poetic form of lines consisting
of seven and eleven syllables each.

The interaction of sung voices in Renaissance polyphony influenced
Western music for centuries. Composers are routinely trained in the
"Palestrina style" to this day, especially as codified by the 18c
music theorist Johann Joseph Fux.
Composers of the early twentieth century also wrote in
Renaissance-inspired styles. Herbert
Howells wrote a Mass in the Dorian mode entirely in
strict Renaissance style, and Ralph Vaughan Williams's Mass in
G minor is an extension of this style. Anton von Webern wrote his dissertation on
the Choralis
Constantinus of Heinrich
Isaac and the contrapuntal techniques of his serial music may be informed by this
study.

Baroque music

The Baroque period in music is
associated with the development around 1600 of the figured bass, with dramatic implications
in the realm of solo vocal music such as the monodies of the Florentine Camerata and opera. This innovation was in fact an extension of
established practice of accompanying choral music at the organ,
either from a skeletal reduced score (from which otherwise lost
pieces can sometimes be reconstructed) or from a basso
seguente, a part on a single staff containing the lowest
sounding part.

A new genre was the vocal concertato,
combining voices and instruments; its origins may be sought in the
polychoral music of the
Venetian school.Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) brought it
to perfection with his Vespers and his
Eighth Book of Madrigals, which call for great virtuosity on the
part of singers and instruments alike. His pupil Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) (who had
earlier studied with Giovanni
Gabrieli) introduced the new style to Germany. Alongside the
new music of the secunda
pratica, contrapuntal motets in the stile antico or old style continued to be
written well into the 19th century.

It should be remembered that choirs at this time were usually quite
small and that singers could be classified as suited to church or to chamber
singing. Monteverdi, himself a singer, is documented as taking part
in performances of his Magnificat with one voice per part.

Independent instrumental accompaniment opened up new possibilities
for choral music. Verse anthem alternated
accompanied solos with choral sections; the best-known composers of
this genre were Orlando Gibbons and
Henry Purcell. Grand motets (such as those of Lully and Delalande) separated these sections
into separate movements. Oratorio,
pioneered by Giacomo Carissimi,
extended this concept into concert-length works, usually loosely
based on Biblical stories.

The pinnacle of the oratorio is found in George Frideric Handel's works,
notably Messiah and
Israel in Egypt.
While the modern chorus of hundreds had to await the growth of
Choral societies and his centennial
commemoration concert, we find Handel already using a variety of
performing forces, from the soloists of the Chandos Anthems to larger groups (whose
proportions are still quite different from modern orchestra
choruses):

Lutheran composers wrote instrumentally-accompanied cantatas, often based on chorales (hymns). While
Dieterich Buxtehude was a
significant composer of such works, it was largely up to the next
generation to undertake cantata cycles on texts for the entire
church year. Telemann wrote choral cantatas for Frankfurt (later
published in solo versions as the Harmonische
Gottesdienst) and Graupner cycles for
Darmstadt, but Johann Sebastian
Bach (1685-1750) made a truly monumental contribution: his
obituary mentions five complete cycles, of which three comprising
some 200 works are known today, in addition to motets, (Bach himself did not use the term "cantata",
motet here refers to his "church music" without orchestra) passions, masses and the
Magnificat.

Baroque cantata with one voice per
part

A point of
hot controversy today is the so-called "Rifkin hypothesis", which
re-examines the famous "Entwurff", Bach's 1730 memo to the
Leipzig City Council (A Short but Most Necessary Draft
for a Well Appointed Church Music) calling for at least 12
singers. In light of Bach's responsibility to provide music
to four churches and be able to perform double choir compositions
with a substitute for each voice, Joshua
Rifkin concludes that Bach's music was normally written with
one voice per part in mind. A few sets of original performing parts
include ripieni who reinforce rather than slavishly double
the vocal quartet.

Classical and Romantic music

Composers of the late 18th century became fascinated with the new
possibilities of the symphony and other instrumental music, and
generally neglected choral music. Mozart's choral music generally does
not represent his best work, with a few exceptions (such as the
"Great" Mass in C minor and Requiem
in D minor). Haydn became more
interested in choral music near the end of his life following his
visits to England in the 1790s, when he heard various Handel
oratorios performed by large forces; he wrote a series of masses
beginning in 1797 and his two great oratorios The Creation and The Seasons. Beethoven wrote only two masses, both
intended for liturgical use, although his Missa solemnis is suitable
only for the grandest ceremonies. He also pioneered the use of
chorus as part of symphonic texture with his Ninth Symphony.

In the 19th century, sacred music escaped from the church and
leaped onto the concert stage, with large sacred works unsuitable
for church use, such as Berlioz's
Te Deum and Requiem, and
Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem. Rossini's Stabat mater, Schubert's masses, and Verdi's Requiem also exploited the grandeur offered
by instrumental accompaniment.

Oratorios also continued to be written, clearly influenced by
Handel's models. Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ and
Mendelssohn'sElijah and St Paul are in the category.
Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Brahms also wrote secular cantatas, the
best known of which are Brahms's Schicksalslied and Nänie.

A few composers developed a cappella music, especially Bruckner, whose masses and motets startlingly
juxtapose Renaissance counterpoint with chromatic harmony.
Mendelssohn and Brahms also wrote significant a cappella
motets.

The amateur chorus (beginning chiefly as a social outlet) began to
receive serious consideration as a compositional venue for the
part-songs of Schubert, Schumann,
Mendelssohn, Brahms, and others. These 'singing clubs' were often
for women or men separately, and the music was typically in
four-part (hence the name "part-song") and either a cappella or
with simple instrumentation. At the same time, the Cecilian movement attempted a restoration
of the pure Renaissance style in Catholic churches.

20th and 21st centuries

As in other genres of music, choral music underwent a period of
experimentation and development during the 20th century. While few
well-known composers focused primarily on choral music, most
significant composers of the early century produced some fine
examples that have entered the repertoire.

The advent of atonality and other non-traditional harmonic systems
and techniques in the 20th century also affected choral music.
Serial music is represented by choral works by Arnold Schoenberg, including the anthem
"Dreimal Tausend Jahre", while the composer's signature use of
sprechstimme is evident in his psalm "De Profundis." Paul Hindemith's distinctive modal language
is represented by both his a cappella Mass and his Six Chansons on
texts by Rilke, while a more contrapuntally dissonant style comes
through in his secular requiem, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard
Bloom'd. Olivier Messiaen also
demonstrates dissonant counterpoint in his Cinq Rechants, which
tell the Tristan and Isolde story. Charles
Ives' psalm settings exemplify the composer's incomparably
radical harmonic language. Tone clusters and aleatory elements play
a prominent role in the choral music of Krzysztof Penderecki, who wrote the St.
Luke Passio, and György Ligeti,
who wrote both a Requiem and a separate Lux Aeterna. Milton Babbitt incorporated integral
serialism into works for children's chorus, while Daniel Pinkham wrote for choir and electronic
tape. Meredith Monk's Panda Chant and
Astronaut Anthem explore overtones in an unconventional text
setting. Though difficult and rarely performed by amateurs, pieces
that demonstrate such unfamiliar idioms have found their way into
the repertories of the finest semi-professional and professional
choirs around the world.

At the turn of the 21st century, choral music has received a
resurgence of interest partly due to a renewed interest in
accessible choral idioms. Multi-cultural influences are found in
Osvaldo Golijov's St. Mark Passion,
which melds the Bach-style passion form with Latin American street
music, and Chen Yi's Chinese Myths Cantata
melds atonal idioms with traditional Chinese melodies played on
traditional Chinese instruments. Some composers began to earn their
reputation based first and foremost on their choral output, with
the highly popular John Rutter being the
most well-known example. The large scale dramatic works of Karl Jenkins seem to hearken back to the
theatricality of Orff, and the music of James MacMillan continues the
tradition of boundary-pushing choral works from the United Kingdom
begun by Britten, Walton, and Leighton. Meanwhile, primarily media
music composers such as John Williams
and Kentaro Sato, and prominent concert
orchestral composers such as Augusta
Read Thomas, Sofia
Gubaidulina, Aaron Jay Kernis,
and Thomas Ades also contribute vital
additions to the choral repertoire.

A number of traditions originating outside of classical concert
music have enriched the choral repertoire as well as provided new
outlets to composers:

At the
end of the 19th century and the start of the twentieth, male voice
choirs became popular with the coal
miners of South
Wales, and numerous choirs were established including the
Treorchy Male Choir, Morriston Orpheus Choir and Cor Meibion PontypriddMale voice choirs. Although the
mining communities which gave rise to these choirs largely died out
in the 1970s and 1980s with the decline of the Welsh coal industry,
many of these choirs continue, and are seen as a traditional part
of Welsh culture and perform Worldwide. Not all male choirs were
based around coal - some choirs started in the rugby clubs, such as
Cardiff Arms Park Male
Choir and Morriston Rugby Choir, while others such as
Pontarddulais Male Choir were formed out of a youth choir.

During the mid 20th century, barbershop quartets began experimenting
with combining larger ensembles together into choruses which sing
barbershop music in 4 parts, often with staging, choreography and
costumes. The first international barbershop chorus contest was
held in 1953 and continues to this day.

During the late 20th century, one of the major areas of growth
in the choral movement has been in the areas of LGBT choruses. Starting around 1979, gay men's choruses
were founded within a period of months in major U.S. cities such as
New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Dallas. Over the last quarter
century the number of such groups, men's, women's and mixed, has
exploded. GALA Choruses, an
associative group, now has well-over 100 member choruses throughout
the world.